1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to communication between computers over the internet and in particular, to a method for controlling the delivery of electronic messages.
2. Background Art
As access to the internet has increased dramatically in recent years, almost anyone with a computer can communicate with other computer users to send and receive messages, to transfer files between computers and perform many other interactive processes. While the internet becomes increasingly integrated into modern society, it has remained and is expected to remain a largely uncensored medium for information exchange.
In many households and classrooms children are being provided with access to personal computers, with younger and younger children encouraged to learn to use personal computers. Children are using computers to not only run stand-alone educational and entertainment application programs, but also to access information available on other computers and to send and receive electronic messages via the internet. In many cases children""s use of such computers is unsupervised. While unsupervised use of a stand-alone computer program may be of little concern, the use of the computer to communicate with others over the internet is becoming an important issue for many parents and guardians since the internet affords the child the opportunity to communicate with others unknown to the parent or guardian.
Consequently, parents of younger children are often faced with the dilemma of whether or not to allow their children access to a computer which has a connection to the internet. While it is valuable for children to learn to use computers at an early stage in their lives, unrestricted communication with others over the internet can expose children to harmful or dangerous information and negative influences.
Accordingly, while there is a need to allow children to become familiar with and use the many resources accessible over the internet, such as e-mail used to communicate with their peers, there is also a need to restrict communication with other unwanted persons. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a method by which parents can allow their children to use a computer connected to the internet while simultaneously controlling the audience with whom the child communicates.
It is a further object of the present invention to prevent an electronic message from being sent by a child to an intended recipient who has not been approved by a parent or guardian.
It is another object of the present invention to prevent a child from reading an electronic message received from a sender who has not been approved by a parent or guardian.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent in light the present specification and drawings.
The present invention comprises a method for controlling the delivery of electronic messages sent to and sent by a user. The user""s communications can be controlled by an administrator. The user referred to in the embodiment illustrated will generally be a child with the administrator commonly being the child""s parent or guardian.
The method utilizes a list of allowed electronic addresses with whom the user is permitted to freely exchange messages. Each message sent by or sent to the user will be categorized as either authorized if the other party to the communication appears on the allowed list, or unauthorized if the other party does not appear on the allowed list. Outgoing messages which are authorized will be transmitted to their destination, and incoming messages which are authorized can be opened and viewed by the user. Outgoing messages which are not authorized will not be transmitted, but rather will be held. The user will receive an indication that the administrator must approve the e-mail before it will be sent. Once the outgoing e-mail is approved it can be transmitted. Similarly, incoming e-mails which are not sent by an entity whose address appears in the list of allowed addresses, cannot be opened or read by the user. The user will be prompted to seek approval of the incoming message from the administer. Once the administrator approves the incoming message with a password, the user can then open and view the message contents.
Specifically, the present invention comprises a method for controlling the delivery of electronic messages sent to and sent by a user. Specifically, the method comprises the steps of: creating an allowed list comprised of electronic entity identifications with whom the user is permitted to freely exchange messages; categorizing as authorized each outgoing and incoming message that is sent to and received from an entity whose electronic identification is included on the allowed list; categorizing as unauthorized each outgoing and incoming message that is sent to and received from an entity whose electronic identification is not included in the allowed list; transmitting only authorized outgoing messages to their intended recipients; and allowing the user to access the contents of authorized received messages. A preferred embodiment of the present invention includes the further steps of: requesting authorization for each unauthorized incoming and outgoing messages; and authorizing the delivery or viewing of each message sent to or received from an electronic identification that does not appear on the allowed list.
As discussed hereinbelow, these methods have applications to numerous situations and are only limited as indicated by the claims appended hereto.